It is said that picking a wedding dress is the most important decision a bride makes when planning her big day. Choosing a wedding gown is what every bride dreams of doing, but picking that perfect dress takes a lot of time and effort. Women will remember their wedding dresses forever thanks to the dozens of photographs that will be taken the day of the ceremony. When beginning to shop for dresses there are a lot of factors to determine what style to buy. Many women make the mistake of trying on too many different styles of gowns - remember that not all shapes are flattering on everyone.
To help plan for shopping for the perfect gown scour through magazines and Web sites to determine what styles are best for each body type. So many women focus on the bells and whistles of a gown: lace, sparkle and fullness; but when it comes time to choose a dress try not to get focused on the pizzazz right away and look first for shape and cut.
Wedding dress trends have come and gone, but there are five necklines that have remained a strong presence over the years: spaghetti straps, v-neck or sweetheart, halter, off the shoulder and strapless. Below are outlines of what necklines will work best for different women's figures along with suggestions for the type of jewelry that can be paired with each cut.
Spaghetti Straps: Spaghetti strapped dresses are ideal for women with small chests and women with petite frames. It's important to remember that a dress strap should be proportionate to the woman wearing it - the smaller the woman, the smaller you can go with a strap.
Bridal Jewelry Suggestion: Spaghetti straps act as a frame for the clavicle, so women should chose a great necklace to showoff inside of that frame whether it's crystal, sterling silver or pearls.
V-Neck of Sweetheart: These cuts are great for women with curves. Typically these dresses have larger straps so women can wear a more supportive bra. V-necks are also great for elongating the neckline.
Bridal Jewelry Suggestion: Drop necklaces are perfect to coincide with these cuts, they will help draw the eye to the deepest point of the neckline.
Halter: Halter dresses are great for petite women because the extra fabric helps elongate the neckline. This cut is also great for women with narrow shoulders.
Bridal Jewelry Suggestion: Because the halter neckline can be a great detail, it is best to choose a simple necklace to wear. Try a necklace with just one crystal or pearl at the center. Halters dresses also allows for the option of going without a necklace and just wearing earrings.
Off the Shoulder: Off the shoulder dresses are great for women who want to hide fuller arms; women of all chest sizes can wear this style of dress.
Bridal Jewelry Suggestion: These dresses tend to be very romantic in their cuts so jewelry should be matched with that in mind. A great pair of long earrings would be ideal. This style dress would also be well suited for decorative jewelry hair pins.
Strapless: The strapless gown has become synonymous with nearly every cut of dresses including a-line, mermaid and empire waists, so there is a lot of variety to choose from. This style is best suited for women with smaller chests and/or broad shoulders.
Bridal Jewelry Suggestion: Strapless gowns are incredibly versatile when it comes time to picking jewelry. Nearly any style of necklace will work - choker, dropped or multiple stranded. Strapless gowns also allows women to go sans necklace to show off an open upper body and wear great drop earrings. Lauren Deloatch
